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Sense of Place
SENSE OF PLACE DESCRIPTION: Living in a place connects us to it, belonging there, caring about it, even being one with its life and processes. We are aware of its needs and cycles and where we fit in those, and how the health of the natural and human systems around us feed us, literally and figuratively. We find deep joy and meaning in our relations with this life around us, and also the obligation of stewardship and love, and the gratitude appropriate to our dependence on this larger life. We defend it with passionate commitment against people, organizations, technologies, and social systems that abuse it, waste it, or poison it, and are active agents to transform those into more life-friendly forms that make our place sustainable, vibrant, and beautiful. We care. PROBLEM/INSTEAD OF: Many modern people are alienated from the natural and human communities around them. Thoroughly embedded into global media, communications, and economic systems from which they get most of their conscious needs met, they feel little obligation to care about or for the needs of their watershed and its ongoing community. After all, it doesn't feed them, either literally or figuratively. This results not only in a loss of belonging, deep identity, and profound satisfaction in daily life, but in often oblivious abuse, waste and poisoning of local natural systems (as well as distant ones). There is thus insufficient bond to muster the defensive energies needed to protect and maintain the health of the commons, both local and global, especially against the destructive social and economic forces upon which these alienated souls are so dependent for their livelihood.. REFLECTION - QUESTION: What needs to happen for more people to feel authentic connection to this place where we live, upon which we are so dependent and which depends so much on us? What is at the heart of that connectedness, that we can invoke to rally the members of this community to its defense and stewardship? What aspects of place call to US to commit to its wellbeing?- ACTION RECOMMENDED: Use the fact and profundity of our connectedness to this place to energize our and others' commitment to care for and protect it. Tap into our shared pain at its abuse to muster our caring. Provide opportunities for place-oblivious people to experience in simple terms the magic and delight of THIS place - THEIR place - and to learn about its dynamics and their role in those dynamics. Expand NIMBY energy to embrace all life in all of this watershed. PATTERN ASSOCIATION EXAMPLES • Educational nature walks and place-based art. (Note: City Safaris by Carolyn Shaffertt) • Bioregional training, games, hikes, treasure hunts, etc. • Direct action against polluters and exploiters of the local land • Deep ecology and pagan rituals • Learning from and supporting local indigenous tribal people • Citizen science to track the health of local ecosystems, especially using students and schools • Development, gathering and community use of local indicators (statistics) of community health (including ecocommunity) • Development of local businesses, economics, money, etc., including gifting and greater use of non-monetized forms of need-satisfaction that moderate commodification; take action to help people get a good livelihood here so they don't feel drawn to move elsewhere. • Activities to restore natural features that serve ecosystemic health and community well-being and enjoyment • Promoting ecological lifestyle choices that reduce impact on natural systems and increase engagement with the earth, especially locally - from recycling to gardening to career choices John SENSE OF PLACE DESCRIPTION How we conceptualize our place in nature does not determine how we treat nature - rather the reverse. Our sense of place arises out of our relations with that place. A place that we actively manage to supply our needs is a place we will actively "sense", tuning into it's cycles, processes, and needs PROBLEM/INSTEAD OF Meeting only one need from a place encourages us to think of it as a resource to be exploited. Meeting multiple needs encourages us to think of it as something to be stewarded - encourages us to ask "what is it doing now?" REFLECTION - QUESTION; ACTION RECOMMENDED Who else benefits from the land-use decisions we make? How do future generations benefit? PATTERN ASSOCIATION EXAMPLES (Common) Roots Like plants, we are rooted to, and shaped by, a particular place. This place, our home, informs us, nourishes us, and guides our values and our actions. We are not alone in these places, but are interacting with complex webs of individuals. We may return to our rootage when in need of wisdom and insight. We may also commit new roots into unexplored areas. These rich areas may be the soil or watersheds, social communities or markets. Take a moment to reflect on where you have roots. Are you able to tap into all of these roots in this time and place? Are they in motion, or are they still? What shape are they? Do they mingle with others around you? Roots grow over the course of a plant’s life. Make sure you are conscious of where you put your roots, because this will continue to shape and mold your life direction. If a place is toxic, put energy into it to renew its life. Talk to people about your own roots to see which roots you share.Sense of place, stewardship, network, community(?), natural history, human history We find ourselves rooted in the Willamette Valley. Some here have been nourished for generations. Others are new arrivals, in search of nourishing opportunity and inspiration. A field is continually transformed by the arrival and re-arrival of diverse plants with diverse histories.